Yes, we know he's not the host of our favorite game show anymore, but in honor of tonight's latest edition of The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular (CBS, 8p), TV Watchers wishes to pay homage to one of the all-time game show host greats, Bob Barker. Barker, seen in the photo on the right, was in fine form when he took out Adam Sandler in the hilarious movie Happy Gilmore.

We love you Drew, but Bob, we miss you. We're still not quite used to The Price Is Right without you.

THE FRIDAY RUNDOWN

-Another episode of the new Dennis Miller-hosted game show Amnesia (NBC, 8p)

This was probably the most self-contained episode of Lost so far this season, focusing mainly on three or four characters, with a large portion of the cast not even on screen, and not doing a whole lot to advance the story. Still, it was interesting and fairly suspenseful, managing to give us a "Desmond-centric" episode without using either flashbacks or flash forwards.

We got our first look at the freighter (about what you'd expect, really) which contains its own mysteries, and the first new piece of info regarding the Black Rock since season one.

It's strange to think that at the end of that season, "What is the Black Rock?" was on everyone's list of questions, up there with "What's inside the hatch?" and everyone's favorite, "What is the monster?" Such innocent times, before the Dharma Initiative, the four-toed statue, Jacob, Matthew Abbadon and the island's apparent ability to cause people -- paraphrasing Kurt Vonnegut here -- to "come unstuck in time."

And that's my cue to remind you not to read any more if you haven't seen this episode. In addition, I also mention an interesting bit of info about next week's episode as well, so be warned.

Alexandrea Lushington, Jason Yeager and Robbie Carrico. Predictable. Alaina Whitaker? Aw, America! Say it ain't so. Alaina may not have been the most polished of the bunch, but she certainly has a better voice and more charm than, oh, I don't know, AMANDA OVERMYER?

Meanwhile Kady Malloy and Luke Menard were trotted out with the ousted. Clearly, the two must give the performance of their lives next week, or it will be the tiki torch dismissal for them as well. (By the look on Kady's face when Ryan said Alaina's name, she's stunned that she'll get the opportunity.)

Beyond the eliminations themselves, the show rolled along smoothly with the voted off contestants reprising their '70s selections. It's always interesting to see who gets emotional during these farewells. During Alex's performance, it was tiny tot David Archuleta, hiding his face and the tears streaming down them. At the end of her song, Alex ran straight to him to give him a hug. Oh, Archie. It'll be ok!

Among the tears, Ryan Seacrest made three big announcements. 1) THE BEATLES! After six years of hounding, the McCartney/Lennon songbook will be open to Idol contestants. 2) March 11 will be the night of the top 12. It will also be the night Idol will introduce a whole new look: a new set, new graphics and a new closing song by season 2 Idol winner Ruben Studdard. And 3) Idol Gives Back returns with another star-studded fundraiser to benefit American and African children. Myriah Carey, Carrie Underwood, Brad Pitt, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, Chris Daughtry and Reese Witherspoon are at the top of the list. That's slated for April 9. Save the date.

TV Guide's Michael Ausiello has posted the character list for the new Joss Whedon series Dollhouse. I came to all of Whedon's shows -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly -- long after they'd gone off the air, but fell hard for all three of them. Having him create something new for television is like Christmas.

Dollhouse, which begins this fall on FOX, stars Eliza Dushku (shown right as Faith, her Buffy character) as a government agent with no memories. Here's how the network describes the series:

Echo (Dushku) [is]...one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.

Fall can't come soon enough. If you go to the TV Guide page, you can check out info about the other characters, and offer input on which actors you'd like to see in other roles.

Of course, you can always compile your own Heroes soundtrack of sorts using the user-generated site TuneFind. The Web site provides music tracks that have been used in the series' 35 episodes so far. You can visit the Heroes section directly at http://www.tunefind.com/show/Heroes

The LOST saga continues tonight with another new episode (ABC, 9p). Two weeks ago, we saw Sayid and Desmond leave the island (along with the body of Naomi and pilot Frank Lupidus). Teammate Daniel Faraday was firm with Frank that he follow the same exact line off the island that they used coming in.

We found out last week that the copter never made it back to the freighter, and that our the group is currently M.I.A.

What happened to them?

It looks like we'll get some answers tonight.

Also thanks in part to some investigating by TV Guide's Michael Ausiello, ABC has laid out LOST's schedule for the rest of the season. Originally, ABC executives had planned on taking a break after seven episodes. Instead, we'll get our mini-cliffhander in late March, take a month off and come back in late April for the final five episodes.

It was another night of competition and another night of mediocrity Wednesday as the ladies took the floor and took on the 70s. Not that these girls don't have talent, they do, it's just not the "give me a sec' to scrape my jaw off the floor, I think my heart just stopped for a second, jumping up and down" variety. Oh, fine. I'll go ahead and say it. The David Archuleta variety.

To their credit, most of these women were born in the late 80s, making it rather cruel to hoist THE SEVENTIES on them. (By the way, does this mean we're going in order? Do they know we're going to run out of decades real quick? Ok.) Naturally, 17-year-old Alaina Whitaker selected grade-A cheese, wedding fodder "Hopelessly Devoted to You" by Olivia Newtown John. It's probably one of the only songs she recognized. Ok that, and she's a bit vanilla, if you know what I mean. Lacking in flava. As Simon put it, it's as if her grandmother prepped her for this competition.

Many contestants were knocked for not choosing a song that was really them. Amanda Overmyer, Hot Topix outfit ablaze, hacking through "Wayward Son," Kady Malloy talking her way through "Come on over" by Heart, Alexandrea Lushington singing something so dull, I couldn't even bring myself to google the lyrics to find out what it was (And Alex, cargo shorts? Really?)

Thank god for Brooke White, a self-proclaimed 'beauty school drop out." You can knock Brooke for being all sunshine and smiles, but the girl knows what she does best and Wednesday, that was a little "You're so vain." Carly Smithson also turned up the heat, now over the cold she battled last week, singing "Crazy on You," another Heart tune. Ramiele Mulabay was blasted a smidge for her song choice, but she's still spunky enough to keep her front runner status, methinks.

Bring in the boys. With the fat trimmed down to 10, you'd think the line-up would sparkle. Or, at the very least, glimmer. But instead, most performances rolled by unremarkably. Even Michael Johns, the smoking Aussie already rising the heart rates of many according Idol message boards, delivered a just so-so rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way."

Then there were the videos, the 60-intro clips of each contestant meant to scintillate us, give us insight into the deep thoughts behind the pretty faces. Turns out, there aren't many. "America might be surprised to know," Robbie Carricco began, "that I drag race cars." Really, Robbie? You? With your black skull cap and long, scraggly hair and rocker persona? You drag race? I'm reeling!

The night did hold some suprises: namely David Hernandez and Chikezie, which we learned means "something well created by God" in Nigerian. David busted out an entertaining version of "Killer Queen" (although I could have lived without the dramatic walk down the stairs during the intro) and Chikezie called out Simon while singing Donny Hathaway's "I Believe."

But really, why bother talking about any of the other contestants when we know The One That Matters. "The One to Beat," as Simon Says: David Archuleta. Thousands, nay millions, of grade school girls have already doodled his name in their notebooks and imagined taking him to their upcoming winter formals. Ryan Seacrest merely said his name and the audience was already in hysterics. And that was with a grouchy looking David Cook still standing there, holding his guitar.

Archie Boy chose "Imagine" by John Lennon - the third verse, cause that's his fave. Not an easy sell by any means, yet he nailed it beyond belief. Paula was crying, saying "I just want to squeeze your head off and hang you from my rearview mirror." .... Ok.

Randy was screaming - "Bril-liant! Fire, baby!" - calling it one of the best performances in Idol history. But Simon said it best. "There are 19 very miserable contestants sitting here tonight, trust me."

It's been an adventurous road for NBC's latest premiere, Quarterlife, which sees its network premiere tonight (NBC, 10p). The show originally launched last November online at MyspaceTV and its own Web site, quarterlife.com. The internet show had a very successful run, premiering over 35 webisodes and spread to other popular sites including YouTube and Facebook, grabbing the attention of NBC executves

The show revolves around the experiences of a group of friends and their modern day struggles through their post-college/pre-marriage years, including employment, relationships, friendships and more. Don't think "Friends," but more like "thirtysomething" in their twenties.

In fact, Quarterlife, from the minds of TV veterans Ed Zwick and Marshall Herkovitz (Philadelphia native), were actually also the brains behind "thirtysomething," as well as other critically acclaimed dramas and films including "My So-Called Life," "Once & Again," "Blood Diamond" and "Legends of the Fall." It's an impressive resume that helps to translate well to the new NBC small screen drama.

The other thing the show has going for it is the relatively fresh cast. The cast has been seen on other shows in small parts, and they include:

If the screen adaptation is anything like the broadway production, look for standout performances from Sean Combs, Audra McDonald and former Cosby Show mother Phylicia Rashad.

Raisin in the Sun is based on the 1959 stage play by Lorraine Hansberry and is based on her family's experiences growing up in a Chicago neighborhood. The production held historical significance as the first play to go to broadway written by a black woman as well as the first black director (Lloyd Richards).

The speaker in the title of the post is Marlo Stanfield. The name he hasn't heard yet is that of Kenard, the little sociopath who changed the show forever tonight. What Kenard does may have shocked a lot of us, but in the world of The Wire, it doesn't make much impact. That seemed to be a major theme in this episode (and one that comes up a lot in the series as a whole): in the grand scheme of things, no one really remembers or cares what you've done.

(If you haven't seen this episode yet, and have managed to avoid spoilers on-line all week, this is a good time to stop reading.)

It's the first elimination show, the votes are in and four contestants will be going home.

We start with a photo montage followed by the top 24 singing more songs from the '60s, including the girls singing "Rose in Spanish Harlem" that is truly amusement park worthy. I don't like the theme thing. Songs that are forty years old being sung by kids who are more than half that; of course everyone is going to be accused of not making the song "current" enough.

After a big chunk of cheese and Ryan reminding us that this is the "best 24 ever," we're on to the first elimination from the guys.

Kristy Lee Cook is called front and center, but it's a fake out and Amy Davis is going home.

Randy and Paula's new video is shown. In short: wind machines, jazzercise dancing and digitized vocals.

Amanda and Joanne are called from the couch next and ... commercial break. It's gotta be Joanne. And it is. She gives us "Say a Little Prayer" again and Ramiele is weeping. Not just crying, but weeping.

Finally, it's time to eliminate the last guy. Colton and Chikezie are called out. Tension ... and Colton is leaving us. Colton sings us out to "Suspicion Minds" and Jacuzzi is safe for another week.

I think/wonder/hope that next week will feature songs from the '70s. We should be so lucky.

In the first season of Lost, one of the show's main mystery was What Did Kate Do? That is, why is Kate Austen, the show's ostensible female lead, a fugitive from justice? There was even an episode titled "What Kate Did," which pretty much told us (on top of several other crimes, she killed her mother's abusive husband by blowing up his house).

Once we found that out, Kate's back story, like that of nearly every other character introduced in Lost's first season, became kind of dull. Thankfully, we've known since last season that she's one of the Oceanic Six, meaning the show can now center episodes around Kate with interesting, story-driven flash-forwards, and not boring flashbacks. And the final scene of tonight's flash forward -- like the one last week -- opened whole new doors for the story, meaning this is probably a good spot to stop reading.

An interesting bit of news from our friends in the sunshine state could end up having a big impact on LOST.

Last week's fall season pickup announcements from CBS left one of it's new flops off the list in "Cane," which was about a Cuban family running a major business in a fictional South Florida city. The show was not among the list of series listed to be heading back to the eye this fall, which isn't a very big vote of confidence for the future of the show, says Palm Beach Post blogger Kevin Thompson.

That however, could prove to be sweet music for fans of LOST and actor Nestor Carbonell. The end of "Cane" could spell a dramatic return for the Dr. Richard Alpert. Will we finally discover how the Other doctor discovered that fountain of youth? It's looking more and more like a possiblity.

As you may have already heard, Martha Stewart -- in a shrewd business move -- purchased the rights to free agent chef Emeril Lagasse. Stewart's company gets the rights to Lagasse's cookbook franchise, tv shows and products for nearly $50 million dollars. (The deal did not include his restaurants).

Both appeared together on The Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday night and provided a very entertaining list of Top Ten Party Tips:

And a great mantra to live by, as Emeril said at #5: "An apron is a great substitute for pants!"

Kristy Lee Cook tries her hand at "Rescue Me" and it's boring and creepy. Quite an accomplishment. Paula's advice is pretty priceless: "No one should see that you're having a touch time." She manages to be on the border of passing out/ crying at all times and she endures. Amy Davis's "Where The Boys Are" is completely tuneless and nasally. Paula and Simon says she's "pretty," which is basically a death knell.

I love everything about Brooke White singing "Happy Together." Ramiele Malubay confidently rocks "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." She is adorable. I had heard a lot of buzz about Carly Smithson, but her rendition of "The Shadow Of Your Smile" was just OK.

Channeling Randy, I just don't think the majority of the girls "brought it."

Syesha Mercado makes a great comment to Ryan about how everyone has the flu but they "keep us separated." so they don't infect each other. I envision cages. Run, aspiring singers of America, run!

The con on the run will be showcased in what most expect to be a flash-forward episode. Will we learn some of her current situation post-island? Is she still on the run? Will we find out what man was waiting for her when she met with Jack in last season's finale?

All great questions, and we hope to get some answered, and of course, we expect to come out of it with more questions...

While I'm not a particularly huge fan of the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters (DSC, 8p), fans of the 80's might want to take particular note and tune into tonight's episodes as the boys will pay tribute to one of that era's TV heroes.

Get out your paper clips, rubber bands, duct tape and rope! Yes, everyone, we're talking about the one and only MacGyver.

The Mythbusters group will salute the long-running series (1985-1992) by testing some of MacGyver's popular feats and see if they measure up to the real world. This includes lock-picking, making a compass and of course, building a plane from bamboo and duct tape.

You know the drill: It's two full hours of Idol, with performances by the top 12 fellas. The ladies perform Wednesday night and two guys and two girls go home on Thursday night.

After the required montage of the top 12 getting to Hollywood, complete with cheers, hugs and a misty eye here and there, Seacrest announces that all the contestants will be singing songs from the '60s.

Luke Menard performed a cringe-worthy "Everybody's Talkin'," hitting plenty of notes, but never the right ones. Leif Garrett's lovechild Garrett Haley's "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" was a sleeper from the start; someone forget to press the "On" button on the poor kid.

Solid performances came from the painfully cute David Archuleta, who owned the stompy "Shop Around" and dread-locked Jason Castro, who strummed a guitar and sweetly sang the sunny "What a Day For A Daydream." Also a crowd pleaser was the final singer of the night, Aussie-American Michael Johns, with a rousing rendition of The Doors' "Light My Fire."

Note to the producers: Instead of commercials, could you just lock Randy, Paula and Simon in a steel cage to duke it out? Three judges enter, only one leaves.

Let's celebrate tonight, fittingly, with the season finale of ... you guessed it, Prison Break!

Michael, Whistler and the boys broke out of Panama prison last week and Scofield's out for revenge tonight (FOX, 8p) against the group who killed his prison nurse/girlfriend and is holding his nephew hostage. It proves to be an action packed ending to what has been a pretty good season three.

It's up in the air whether P.B. will be back in the fall, I'm guessing a lot will depend on tonight's resolutions and future decisions by FOX management (bring it back!!)

Onto the rest of the rundown, and also, the greatest video highlight from NBA All-Star Weekend and, in my opinion, one of the coolest dunks ever...

We all get "took," says editor Gus Haynes this week on The Wire. He's talking about the concept of a reporter being duped by a source into publishing false information. But in this episode, between the homeless murders turning into a full-blown "redball" (police lingo for a high-priority case) and Clay Davis' shameless grandstanding, the term "took" applies to pretty much all of Baltimore.

The police and the Sun are devoting pretty much every resource they have to chasing/covering the killer, Omar has killed again, the mayor's prospects seem a lot dimmer and Haynes -- too bad he wasn't a character early on -- is starting to expose Templeton's lies. All this plus one of the sweetest final scenes the show has ever had. We'll get to all that after the jump, so if you haven't seen the episode yet, now's a good time to go read something else.

This latest episode of Lost really didn't focus on him, but by the end of the hour, he was the character most on my mind, based on mainly on what added to less than a few minutes of screen time.

I'll say more about that later, after the jump. There are quite a few things this week that I don't want to spoil, the least of which is the identity of fourth member of the "Oceanic Six." and the unexpected way that character connects with another off the island. There was some debate here in our office this morning about whether this plot point qualifies as a "Jump the Shark" moment. I don't know that it does, mainly because of what we already know about at least one of the characters.

Our island castaways are back for the third episode of the season (ABC, 9p). Will we learn more about Charlotte and the Freighter People? How will Jack, Sayid and Kate convince Locke to give her up? And will we actually learn yet another of the Oceanic Six?

It should be another fun episode tonight -- especially knowing now that we'll see more than the original eight eps before the end of the season.

NOTE: If you missed or want to catch last week's ep again, tune in an hour early (ABC, 8p) to watch.

“American Idol” is a card-carrying reality show, which translates to about 60 percent singing and 40 percent drama. A fact that is never more evident than in its “Top 24” show, an emotional hour in which Paula, Simon and Randy elate and eliminate the 50 Hollywood finalists. Why, Fox, WHY is this show 60 minutes long? Do we need 60 minutes of redundant Ryan Seacrest voiceovers? Picture it …

A rejected and dejected contestant takes the long walk back to the elevator. We hear Ryan’s somber voice: “He didn’t make it, so he has to remind himself.”The man shakes his head. “I didn’t make it,” he says.

Gripping.

That's not to say there aren't the redeeming moments. Watching the selected few receive their news can give you a bit of a rush, particularly when they're your faves: The edgy Irish girl. The hot Australian. Cutey McCuterson David Archuletta. Angel-faced Brooke White and the charming Syesha Mercado. If you’re thinking, “Hey, those are the people she mentioned last time,” you’re right. Conveniently, Idol shadows the same people each episode allowing us to grow attached . What about all the others? The blur of unfamiliar faces in the Top 24? Well, I guess they better start flirting with the camera people.

Sadly, this episode was the end of the road for many notable finalists. Emo-chic Josiah Leming was shown the door, written off as “over confident” and Nashville beauty Cardin McKinney was just plain written off. Then there’s Kyle Ensley, the coolest archetypal nerd ever to rock the airwaves. We’ll miss you, Kyle, and hope to see you on a ballot somewhere, someday. You could sing on the campaign trail! Here's your slogan: "Vote for him! Simon did."

And without further adieu, here are your top 24 (in no particular order):

With the strike finally screeching to a halt (yaaaay!), it's back to work at many of your favorite shows.

We here at TVW couldn't be more thrilled, as we were starting to formulate a game plan for bringing you more reviews on live coverage from C-Span and old episodes of The Lawrence Welk Show.

Anyway, there's a lot of questions out there on the future of your favorite show, and we'll do our best to answer them or at least point you in the right direction. Please feel free to leave your comments and questions below...

And Happy Tubing -- for real!!!

Q: LOST is planning on producing five more episodes after it's initial eight already in the can. What happens to the other three originally planned for this season?

If you've missed the kickoff to the station's new series, "Breaking Bad," starring Byran Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle), it's a dark drama that is not to be missed. AMC will run the first three episodes tonight in order beginning at 8 p.m., and it's well worth the investment.

Breaking Bad brings you into the life of struggling high school chemistry teacher Walter White (Cranston), who has a pregnant wife and handicapped son. White is diagnosed with terminal cancer and decides to take a shortcut, turning to illegal activities in the form of a meth lab to help support his family.

Again, the mini-marathon begins tonight (Wednesday) at 8 p.m. And head back to TV Watchers after the marathon to see reviews by TVW blogger Tom Coombe on first few episodes here and here.

It's relatively calm on the TV front tonight compared to Tuesday, so there's not much to brag about tonight on the rundown.

What we will do today is remind viewers that with writers returning to work, most of tonight's late night programming will not only be new, but also full of WGA-backed humor! Letterman has already been running full steam ahead with writers, but Leno and Conan crews will be back into full swing the next few nights.

It'll definitely be worth staying up past your bedtime to get in on the fun...

It's Hollywood, baby! Finally. After watching the talentless masses compete for their 15 minutes -- hour after painful hour, and week after painful week -- 164 Chosen Ones battled it out for one of 24 coveted spots Tuesday night.

For the first time in Idol history, contestants took guitars, keyboards and, in one terribly misguided man's case, an entire drum set, on stage with them. For some, the fusion seemed natural and enhanced the performance. Notably, the fresh-faced Brooke White, who sounded not unlike Carly Simon. Or 18-year-old Josiah Leming. Also known as "The Boy Who Cried." He may have lobbed a stink bomb on his final day of auditions, but his first performance was so good -- As Paula put it, "You make people smile. You make the girls fall in love with you. You make the guys think you’re cool" -- he coasted into the top 50. Cutey McCuterson David Archuletta is another one to watch. The 16-year-old from Utah floored the judges in every round and seems to have all the ingredients needed to be the next American Idol. As Simon told him. "You’re young, you’re good looking, you’re likeable and you have a good voice." Not a bad thing to hear on the most stressful day of your life.

Throw in some international flavor -- a strapping, soulful Aussie and an Irish girl with a powerhouse sound -- and the buzz about this season being the most talented yet may not be all hot air. Wednesday night we'll find out who is going home and who will endure more torture in the coming weeks.

Ok, we here at TV Watchers are by no means remotely a fan of Oprah Winfrey, her show or any of her extentions -- magazine, station, schools, reality shows, even Dr. Phil.

But we would be remiss if we didn't mention the fact that today's episode of Oprah has the potential to be a good one -- it's a reunion of the kids from the Cosby Show! (ABC, 4p)

That's right slap on your favorite Gordon Gartrail shirt, because Theo, Rudy, Sondra, Vanessa and even Olivia are all in the house, and it should be a good time. Sorry Lisa Bonet fans though, no Denise. She's probably still trying to finish up her undergrad degree at Hillman.

The Daily Rundown is back after a rough bout with the flu last week. We're rejuvenated, praying for an official end to the writer's strike soon, and ready to go.

TVW is also counting down the hours to tonight's new jail-busting episode of Prison Break (FOX, 8p)! We left the boys last week right as they were set to get out of the slammer in Panama. Who makes it? Who will be killed? Who stays behind? We can't wait.

Three episodes in, Bryan Cranston's pretty much earned his Emmy/Golden Globe/SAG award for his role in Breaking Bad. Man, this show is dark. It doesn't really start out that way. High school chemistry teacher Walter White (Cranston, right) finds out he has terminal cancer, and decides to start making crystal meth to provide a nest egg for his family after he's dead. It turns him from a nebbish into a man of action. For most of the pilot episode, you can imagine a Hollywood PR firm slapping a really sappy tagline onto the series: "Walter White found out he was dying. That's when he start to live."

Then there's an explosion, corpse disposal, a prisoner in a basement, and a rather nasty murder scene. Fortunately, the show refuses to dabble in post-Pulp Fiction nihilism. We feel every horrible choice Walt makes, and while there's some macabre body-disposal humor in the second episode, the show shrugs most of that off in episode three.

Not to suggest the third episode is humorless; there's a scene involving Walt's DEA agent brother-in-law attempting a scared straight lecture that's horribly awkward. Also, I laughed out loud at at Walt actually writing out a list of reasons to kill/not to kill the captive in the basement. On the "con" side we had "It's wrong" and "You'll feel bad about it for the rest of your life," and something about Judeo-Christian values. On the pro side: "He'll kill you and your entire family if you let him go."

You can watch the first three episodes of Breaking Bad Wednesday night on AMC, starting at 8 p.m.

***

A quick reminder: CBS revisits Jericho starting this Tuesday at 10 p.m. I've already seen the first three episodes, and I think the show has really improved since last season, since the more interesting storyline -- the conspiracy behind the nuclear attacks -- has taken center stage. There are only seven episodes, and even if the writers go back to work Wednesday -- as they are now expected to do (!) -- no other episodes will air this season.

***

Waiting for me in my e-mail in box this morning was a message from Dunder Mifflin Infinity's Allentown branch, which is basically a fancier way of saying a local on-line fan club for fans of The Office. Once you visit there, make sure you check out updates on the Office character blogs. Dwight talks about his distrust of IKEA, and Creed tells us about voting, what to look for when starting a rock band (both the real life and fictional version of Creed played in the Grass Roots) and why he doesn't likeWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

OK, so all that stuff from last week about how Lester and McNulty's fake serial killer plan couldn't go off the rails any worse? Forget it. Clearly, things are going to get much much much worse before the show ends next month.

Not much in the way of spoilers this week. The title more or less tells you the outcome of Omar's dramatic escape last week ("Some Spiderman s--t," as Marlo put it), something that was given away in the previews. After the drama of the last two weeks, this episode gave us a chance to breathe, and to await the disaster that's about to fall these characters and their already messed up world.

So, the writers strike is expected to wrap up in the next few days. What does that mean for the rest of the season? TV Guide has a, um, guide to which shows will have new episodes. For the most part, a lot of established shows are expected to air a handful of new installments in April and May, including most of the CBS crime dramas, along with The Office and 30 Rock.

It sounds like the set-up for a joke: "An exorcist, a physicist and an archaeologist land on an island..."

But that's who we meet this week on Lost, although their exact reason for being on the island -- it's definitely not just to rescue people -- remains somewhat murky.

By the end of the hour, we know what they've come for -- something I thought might remain a mystery for several weeks -- but not why. Nor do we know why these three people with very specialized skills are necessary for the job. We do know why Ben was so horrified of their arrival earlier.

The writers have decided yet again to add another level to the mythology. We have the survivors, the Dharma Initiate, the Others, and now the "Freighter People." As in last week's season premiere, the story this week moves along as quickly as it did in Lost's early days, only now instead of not having enough information -- the castaways, and by extension, us -- have almost too much. Fortunately, I was able to watch this episode on DVD last week, and then give it a second viewing on ABC tonight, to pick up new info.

We'll get to who these new characters are and what they want in a minute, so this is a good time to stop reading if you haven't seen the latest episode yet.

The title of this post comes from these irritating jewelry commercials, where a husband/boyfriend buys their significant other jewelry from a store called Jared, and everyone around him reacts as if he just cured the common cold. I can't stand them. I'm wondering what other commercials get under your skin?

The title of the this post should be read with Homer Simpson's voice in mind, desperate, pleading and hopeful. That's how we feel about the possible end of the writers strike, which is being reported this morning. You'll know more when we do.

We're at the half-way point now. McNulty's phony serial killer ploy gets even crazier, if that was even possible, thanks to some creative writing on the part of Scott Templeton. Lester catches a break on the Marlo investigation, thanks to some shady, off-the-books work by Herc. And the creators of the show manage to make the audience very nervous toward the last part of the hour, thanks to a scene involving Omar, Snoop, Chris and Michael. (The scene ends with one of the more bizarre -- and possibly unbelievable -- things The Wire has done.)

All this, plus the return of Cutty, the reappearance of Bubbles, and some hilarious Clay Davis action. Spoilers, as always, are ahead, and if you manage to see next week's episode through OnDemand, keep any details to yourself, please.

Lost was the ratings champ last night. I take a lot of satisfaction in that, not just that it came in first place, but that it had more viewers than Celebrity Apprentice, AreYou Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and Don't Forget the Lyrics. At 9 p.m., CSI came in second place (a rerun, no less). I know it's just one night of television, but it's still gratifying to know that shows with writers can still find an audience. Plus I hate most game shows, and could happily live the rest of my life without ever hearing or seeing Donald Trump ever again. Maybe the idea of relying on non-scripted TV to bring in viewers is starting to seem like a bad one.

Any doubts we had about the future of Lost were calmed at the end of last season. And the writers/producers managed to convince me of the fourth season's quality tonight with four words: "Are they still alive?"

If you don't know yet who asked that question, this is probably a good point to stop reading, as there are spoilers ahead. But this first episode -- which I watched, along with next week's on DVD a few days ago -- is nearly perfect. There's a lot happening, and many new and interesting twists in the story that add yet another layer to the show's rich mythology.